Beadle

Formed October 1, 1879 (46^th county)

Beadle County (19,153), Huron (14,260)                

The masonry Classical Revival facility was constructed in 1922.  It is on 3^rd Street, Nebraska Avenue, 4^th Street, and Colorado Avenue.  South Dakota State Highway 37 is four blocks to the east of the courthouse.  W. E. Hulse provided the designs for the courthouse.  The structure features faux columns.  There was an 1884 earlier courthouse also in Huron, the only county seat.  The county was established on October 1, 1879 as the 46^th county.  Beadle County was named for Civil War General William Henry Harrison Beadle.  The county seat is named for the Native American tribe.  Beadle County is the birthplace of 1 South Dakota governor, M. Michael Rounds. 

Beadle County government consists of a sheriff and 5 Commissioners.  Five Circuit Court Judges and One Magistrate Court Judge serve Beadle, Brookings, Clark, Codington, Deuel, Grant, Hamlin, Hand, Jerauld, Kingsbury, Lake, Miner, Moody, and Sanborn counties.  The county is in the eastern part of the state.  Pierre, South Dakota is west and Sioux Falls, South Dakota is southeast of the county.  The county center is 8 miles North of Huron.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Spink, Clark, Kingsbury, Miner, Sanborn, Jerauld, and Hand counties. 

The area of the county is 1259 square miles.  It is 22 out of 66 in the state.  It ranks 11 out of 66 in population in the state.  It has a density of 15.2 persons per square mile making it 14 out of 66 in the state.  Beadle County has 80.2% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 14 travels through the county from east to west from Kingsbury County to Hand County.  The county is a rectangle.  Huron is located south and east of the center of county.  Huron is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 74.5% of the county population.  The county is pronounced BEE-DLE.  This county is in the Huron Micropolitan Statistical Area.